Vladimir Putin Trolls America

He gets the better of Barack Obama with much of his op-ed, including pointing out that if our rule is we won’t touch countries with nukes it is just going to incentivize countries getting nukes.

But he ends with this:

My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

Going all the way back to his speech in Cairo in June of 2009, Barack Obama has spoken like a man who believes the world would be better off if the United States were one of 100+ countries instead of the last best hope for mankind on earth.

This is Barack Obama’s world view, but he can’t play that up so much as President when Americans continue to see themselves as they should — exceptional. It is ironic that Putin would articulate it more honestly and candidly in a New York Times op-ed.

Sadly, Barack Obama’s policies have done much to make us less exceptional. But even now, only Edward Snowden flees to Moscow. The rest, Mr. Putin, want to come our way.